Afterlife

"A Persian's Heaven is eas'ly made, 'Tis but black eyes and lemonade."

"The way to heaven out of all places is of like length and distance."

"There's nae sorrow there, John, There's neither cauld nor care, John, The day is aye fair, In the land o' the leal."

"A sea before The Throne is spread;—its pure still glass Pictures all earth-scenes as they pass. We, on its shore, Share, in the bosom of our rest, God's knowledge, and are blest."

"Heav'n but the Vision of fulfill'd Desire. And Hell the Shadow from a Soul on fire."

"A day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tente of wickedness."

"Heaven is not always angry when he strikes, But most chastises those whom most he likes."

"The blessed Damozel lean'd out From the gold bar of Heaven: Her eyes knew more of rest and shade Of waters still'd at even; She had three lilies in her hand, And the stars in her hair were seven."

"It was the rampart of God's house That she was standing on; By God built over the sheer depth, The which is Space begun; So high, that looking downward thence, She scarce could see the sun."

"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via."

"Straight is the way to Acheron, Whether the spirit's race is run From Athens or from Meröe: Weep not, far from home to die; The wind doth blow in every sky That wafts us to that doleful sea."

"Who seeks for Heaven alone to save his soul May keep the path, but will not reach the goal; While he who walks in love may wander far, Yet God will bring him where the blessed are."

"So all we know of what they do above Is that they happy are, and that they love."

"For all we know Of what the blessed do above Is, that they sing, and that they love."

"I have been there, and still would go; 'Tis like a little heaven below."

"There is a land of pure delight, Where saints immortal reign; Infinite day excludes the night, And pleasures banish pain."

"One eye on death, and one full fix'd on heaven."

"When the Great Dao (Tao, perfect order) prevails, the world is like a Commonwealth State shared by all, not a dictatorship."

"Virtuous, worthy, wise and capable people are chosen as leaders."

"Honesty and trust are promoted, and good neighborliness cultivated."

"All people respect and love their own parents and children, as well as the parents and children of others."

"The aged are cared for until death; adults are employed in jobs that make full use of their abilities; and children are nourished, educated, and fostered;...orphans... the disabled and the diseased are all well taken care of...."

"They hate not to make use of their abilities... they do not necessarily work for their own self-interest."

"Thus intrigues and conspiracies do not arise, and thievery and robbery do not occur; therefore doors need never be locked."

"This is the ideal world – a perfect world of equality, fraternity, harmony, welfare, and justice."

"Yes, it is a truth that for a good man,— honored, beloved, useful,— with all around him that God ever gives to His children here;— nay, with all that God could give him of earth, it would be " gain " to die. Heaven is a better, a happier, a more desirable world than this is or can be."

"One should go to sleep as homesick passengers do, saying " Perhaps in the morning we shall see the shore.""

"Beyond the smiling and the weeping, I shall be soon; Beyond the waking and the sleeping, Beyond the sowing and the reaping, I shall be soon! Love, rest, and home — Sweet hope! Lord, tarry not, but come!"

"We are born for a higher destiny than earth; there is a realm where the rainbow never fades, where the stars will be spread before us like islands that slumber on the ocean, and where the beings that pass before us like shadows will stay in our presence forever."

"Man has in his power, now developed, nothing more than a mere hint or initial sign of what is to be the real stature of his personality in the process of his everlasting development. We exist here only in the small, that God may have us in a state of flexibility, and bend or fashion us, at the best advantage, to the model of His own great life and character."

"It doth not yet appear what we shall be. We lie here in our nest, unfledged and weak, guessing dimly at our future, and scarce believing what even now appears. But the power is in us, and that power is finally to be revealed. And what a revelation will that be!"

"In our Father's house it will not be the pearl gate or the streets of gold that will make us happy. But oh, how tran- scendently glad shall we be when we see our Lord. Perhaps in that "upper room," also, He may show us His hands and His side, and we may cry out with happy Thomas, "My Lord and my God!""

"In heaven, knowledge shall be commensurate with the enlarged powers of the glorified soul."

"No more fatigue, no more distress, Nor sin nor death shall reach the place; No groans shall mingle with the songs That warble from immortal tongues."

"What tranquillity will there be in heaven! Who can express the fullness and blessedness of this peace! What a calm is this! How sweet and holy and joyous! What a haven of rest to enter, after having passed through the storms and tempests of this world, in which pride and selfishness and envy and malice and scorn and contempt and contention and vice are as waves of a restless ocean, always rolling, and often dashed about in violence and fury! What a Canaan of rest to come to, after going through this waste and howling wilderness, full of snares and pitfalls and poisonous serpents, where no rest could be found."

"Every Christian that goes before us from this world is a ransomed spirit waiting to welcome us in heaven."

"No wearisome days, no sorrowful nights; no hunger or thirst; no anxiety or fears; no envies, no jealousies, no breaches of friendship, no sad separations, no distrusts or forebodings, no self-reproaches, no enmities, no bitter regrets, no tears, no heartaches; "And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.""

"What we sow here, we reap there! Can it be supposed that the soul will enjoy a reward or endure a retribution for deeds of which it has no recollection? Is the thing possible? Will it enjoy the bliss of heaven, praising Christ forever as its great Saviour, without any remembrance of the sins and sufferings from which He redeemed and saved it? The idea is absurd."

"Death must obliterate all memories and affections and ideas and laws, or the awakening in the next world will be amid the welcomes, and loves and raptures of those who left us with tearful farewells, and with dying promises that they would wait to welcomes us when we should arrive. And so they do. Not sorrowfully, not anxiously, but lovingly, they wait to bid us welcome."

"Blessed loves! how happy they have made us on the earth; what will they be when they have deepened through ages, with no alloy of envy or suspicion or selfishness or sorrow?"

"They are kings and priests unto God. They wear crowns that flash in the everlasting light. They wear robes that are spotlessly white. They wave victorious palms. They sing anthems of such exceeding sweetness as no earthly choirs ever approach. They stand before the throne. They fly on ministries of love. They muse on the top of Mount Zion. They meditate on the banks of the river of life. They are rapturous with ecstasies of love. God wipes away all tears from their eyes."

"As we look up into these glorious culminations, how grand life becomes! To be forever with the Lord, and forever changing into His likeness, and, still more, forever deepening in the companionship of His thought and bliss, "from glory to glory," — could we desire more?"

""A little while," and the load Shall drop at the pilgrim's feet, Where the steep and thorny road Doth merge in the golden street."

"Perhaps heaven may not be so far away as we fancy; and if our eyes were not holden, we should see angels ascending and descending, and blessed spirits thronging all about us."

"With Christ, and like Christ, and not love our friends! Impossible! when He loves them so tenderly. Going into the fuller presence of Him whose very name is "Love" can never make our hearts less loving."

"Imagine there's no heaven It's easy if you try. No hell below us Above us only sky"

"And then, the quiet of the green, inland valleys of our Father's land, where no tempest comes any more, nor the loud winds are ever heard, nor the salt sea is ever seen; but perpetual calm and blessedness; all mystery gone, and all rebellion hushed and silenced, and all unrest at an end forever! "No more sea;" but, instead of that wild and yeasty chaos of turbulent waters, there shall be the river that makes glad the city of God, the river of water of life, that proceeds "out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.""

"And looking back upon "the sea that brought us thither," we shall behold its waters flashing in the light of that everlasting morning, and hear them breaking into music upon the eternal shore. And then, brethren, when all the weary night-watchers on the stormy ocean of life are gathered together around Him who watched with them from His throne on the bordering mountains of eternity, where the day shines forever — then He will seat them at His table in His kingdom, and none will need to ask, "Who art Thou?" or, "Where am I?" " for all shall know it is the Lord," and the full, perfect, unchangeable vision of His blessed face will be heaven."

"The joys of heaven are not the joys of passive contemplation, of dreamy remembrance, of perfect repose; but they are described thus: "They rest not day nor night." "His servants serve Him, and see His face.""

"Will not this be the description of our future being — "reaching forth unto those things which are before?" I believe that we shall thus live through all the eternities that are before us, growing wiser, nobler, stronger, greater; plunging deeper into God, and being more and more filled with more and more of Him. So we shall move forever as in ascending spirals that rise ever higher, and draw ever closer to the throne we compass and to Him that dwells alone; ever perfect, yet ever growing, for we have an inexhaustible Saviour to absorb into our hearts, and we have hearts that never reach the ultimate bound and term of their indefinite possibility of receiving."